Set In Stone
by GrayShoedWonder
Summary: The night before the great battle for Camelot, Merlin has a dream. A figure from his past reemerges, but why? What does she want with him? This was the dream that changed it all. Oneshot.


**So I wrote this one morning out of a random thought I had about Merlin and Nimueh... but its really about Morgana. I hope you enjoy!**

SET IN STONE

Merlin lay on the hard ground, trying to sleep. Soon they would be within the walls of Camelot, fighting to take the city back from Morgana's clutches. The Cup of Life was their goal, and Morgana and Morgause were formidable opponents, especially with the merciless immortal army at their command. He rolled over and shut his eyes, willing himself into sleep.

###

He stood on the Isle of the Blessed once again, the place where he had fought and defeated the priestess Nimueh not long after he had first come to Camelot. Ruined walls still towered over him, lending a sense of age and immortality to the mysterious place of magic. The last time he had been there, so had Gaius, and Nimueh had been turned into a bunch of charred pieces of flesh in revenge for orchestrating the physician's death. But not anymore. It was as if none of that had happened. She stood across the courtyard from him, on the other side of the alter. He could see her between the standing stones around the pedestal.

The sorceress looked much as she had on the day he had killed her. Her dark hair was damp and hung limply around her ears. Bright blue eyes blazed from her pale face, and she wore a vivid red dress, clean and whole, so not the tattered one she had died in.

"Welcome, Emrys," she said to him. "You have returned here, to the Isle of the Blessed."

"You!" Merlin gasped, stepping forward. "How are you still alive?"

She laughed, a beautiful sound. "I am not alive Emrys, but you did not destroy me. Power lives on, no matter the state of the possessor."

"Then how are you here? How did I get here?"

"You are not awake, Emrys. Your dreams have brought you and me to this place so that I may impart knowledge to you. I hope that you will use this knowledge to change the future, and maybe the past as well."

"Stop speaking in riddles, Nimueh," he spat. "What does this all mean?"

"Tomorrow you will face Morgana. She is very powerful in her own right. Her magic is almost like yours, innate and strong. She cannot deny it any more than she could deny her heritage. One cannot change their own nature, just as one cannot move a mountain or drain a lake." Nimueh began to move around the edge of the courtyard, Merlin's eyes never leaving her.

"What does this have to do with me?" he asked.

"The knowledge of ages is mine now. I can see the past, the present, the future, all as though they are here. But the legends and stories never tell of the other things we see. The world is not a linear place, my dear Emrys. Every choice changes the future. None who are alive may see this, only those worthy of it in death. The Great Dragon is gifted in seeing a single path, a single future that may or may not come to exist, but he is blinded to the other possibilities. His advice has changed you, changed what you would have done, and through his attempts to prevent the future he sees, he has had a hand in its creation."

Merlin could sympathize. In trying to stop Morgana from killing Uther, he had inadvertently made the future. He knew that visions were tricky things, but how could a being as wise and ancient as Kilgarrah be wrong?

"You are naïve, young warlock," Nimueh said, circling closer. He could see that she was barefoot, her toes peeking from under the rich red fabric that she wore. "The Great Dragon is just as capable of being wrong as he is of breathing. Experience does not make one infallible. He can claim centuries of life, but he has not lived the future, and he does not see that life is not linear. The future is indirect."

"What can I do about anything?" Merlin asked, throwing out his hands. "I have lived the past; it is behind me."

"The past is not as unchangeable as you seem to believe that it is, little Emrys. But you do not know what it is that could have been changed."

"What do you want from me? What can be changed? Speak straight, Nimueh. I haven't the time or the inclination for your word games."

The priestess passed behind one of the standing stones, and when she came from behind it, was much closer than Merlin would have thought. She stood not more than five feet from him. "The Lady Morgana could see the future. You knew it, Gaius knew it, yet you offered her no support. She felt completely alone, and was terrified of herself. If Uther had found her powers, she would have been executed, promise or no, daughter or not." Without having to be told, Merlin knew that she spoke of Uther's promise to Morgana's assumed father, Goloris and Uther's confession of her true parentage.

"The Dragon told me not to..." he began, but trailed off when he realized that Nimueh had totally taken apart any sort of "Great Dragon" defense he may have set up.

"Yes, the Dragon was wrong again. By alienating her you created her. As with the young Druid Mordred. Mordred had no desire to harm Camelot, until you attempted to capture him in the midst of battle. He loved you, he loved Morgana. And yet you saved him from Uther's axe, then tried to lead him back into it."

"But, but-" Merlin tried to protest, but Nimueh had moved so that she was much closer to him than was comfortable and he was having trouble thinking straight. For all her evil tendencies, Nimueh was a very beautiful woman.

"You could have changed it, Emrys. You could have laid bare your soul to Morgana. She would have turned to you in darkness's stead, and would have confided her sister's actions to you. Her soul is just as capable as loving as your own is, but because you were not there for her, she turned to love the wrong person and thing. It was your fault, Emrys. All your fault, and you cannot turn your back to your wrongs, else you will never right them." She began to circle him, like a lioness stalked her prey. He stood stock still, trying to find a way to fight her arguments. But his only excuse was that he had been warned against it by others, never by his own judgement. Given the choice, he would have spoken to her as soon as he knew of her abilities, for he remembered when he had come to realize what he possessed. The fear was blinding in some ways, terrifying in others. He could imagine that it would have been worse for her, the ward of a king who loathed magic with his being.

"She was afraid. For all that she appeared strong and self-assured, Morgana had nobody to turn to when she needed them. Fear prevented her from confiding in anyone except Gaius, and he wanted nothing to do with her and assured her that nothing was wrong. Convincing himself of his inability to do anything to assist her, he managed to convince you that hiding yourself from her would prevent her powers from manifesting. She felt herself insane for so long, and along with her fear of magic, she feared that she was crazy and would remain forever as the ward of the royal household, unfit for marriage because she was mad.

"Do you remember that night she came to Gaius's chambers, distraught and almost in tears because she was so terrified of herself? All she wanted was to be understood, to be loved by someone who knew that she had magic. Defying Uther's decrees and validating her feelings would have set her on the path you wish she had walked now. You pushed her away, despite all that you knew could have been, and perhaps felt should have been."

Tears gathered in Merlin's eyes as she called up images inside his head. He looked down at Morgana's face once again, the desperation, the pleading desire that had shone from her gray eyes in the half-light of the candles. She had begged him to understand, to reach out for her in her darkest hour, but he had closed the door before she had the chance to truly trust him. And so Morgana had retreated within herself, hid her abilities and emotions from everyone. Until Morgause had appeared. A sister, with power and love to share with Morgana, the love-starved woman searching for anything to call home. And she had found a home with her sister, safe inside her warm and safe cocoon of affection and support.

The sorceress ignored the effect her words were having on him and continued. "When you killed her, poisoned her secretly. She did not understand the disease; was just as terrified as you. And yet, instead of asking her why, you simply decided to dispose of the problem entirely. Can you imagine the betrayal she must have felt? In her mind, you were the one she could trust. Already in your hands was the secret of her magic, which, if it became common knowledge, would have led to unspeakable and unthinkable responses from Uther. Arthur, as Uther's son, was not to be trusted, but you were new, untouched by Uther's cruelty and injustices she believed." The words conjured more images into Merlin's head, this time of the betrayal that shone from Morgana's eyes as her life was choked from her by the poison administered from his hand. She had struggled against him, fear seating itself in her face as she succumbed to the suffocating embrace of death. Salty tears ran down his face, but he did nothing to stop them or wipe them away.

Nimueh smirked as she saw them, and moved away from Merlin, across the courtyard once more. "You held her fate in your hands, Emrys. And you threw it all away."

"I would do anything," he said, his voice shaking. "Anything I could to undo it. To go back."

The priestess froze, her back still to Merlin. "You wish to change the past, but for whom?"

"For her, for me. For the world."

Nimueh turned and her eyes seemed to bore radiant blue holes straight to Merlin's soul. "The one person you would choose, if you must. Who would you change the past for?"

Merlin thought of himself and how much trouble he'd been through; he thought of Uther and the pain his daughter's betrayal caused him; he thought of Arthur, who was forced into battle against one he loved; and he thought of Morgana, pushed to the edge of madness through fear and loneliness, searching desperately for a place to call home.

"Morgana," he admitted. "I would change the past to protect Morgana, to save her from what she went through."

Nimueh smiled, not a sly one, or a malicious one, but a genuine true from-the-heart smile. "Was it really that hard, Emrys? To choose?"

"No."

"You have seen your errors. Heed my words, heed my advice. The future is never set in stone, not even if a vision is had, for visions are born of a single path when there are many that might come to pass if a word is spoken or a single door opened. Do not fear power, do not fear love, and do your best by whomever needs your help, no matter the danger. In the end, that is what matters, Emrys.

"And so I gift you with something only given once before. I give you a second chance."

####

Merlin awoke, but he no longer lay in the damp cave. He was curled upon his feather bed in Camelot, with the sun barely peeking over his window ledge. Sitting up, he replayed the dream in his mind, recalling Nimueh's face and her advice. Her advice about heeding her words... he put a hand to his head, trying to remember, but the words and details were slipping away like fish from his fingers. Squeezing his eyes shut he struggled to bring them back, but failed.

"Merlin!" Gaius called through his door. "You'd better get up. We need to go check on Arthur after the whole Sofia debacle yesterday. He ought to wake up soon!"

With a start, Merlin realized what had happened. Nimueh had moved him years backwards in time, so he might change the future. Details were fuzzy, but the essentials were clear. He was given a second chance, a gift not many got. But... he had not yet killed Nimueh. And he understood. The priestess had voluntarily given up her own chance at a second life so that he might prevent the pain that awaited Morgana and save Camelot from her wrath. Perhaps he could even save Nimueh if he tried. As she had told him, the future is never set in stone.

"Merlin!" Gaius called. "Get up, lazy! We haven't got all day!"

Grinning from ear to ear, Merlin stood up, prepared to change his and Morgana's lives.

**Ends on a happy note! I think this is the first one... hooray for me! Anyway, please review, I love to hear what you think. Plus it makes me happy. :)**


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